Nicolas Kamm/AFP/Getty ImagesA Belleville woman faces charges after she made a fake Facebook profile about her ex-boyfriend, authorities say.

PARSIPPANY — A Facebook page in the name of a Parsippany detective said he gets high and has herpes. And that’s just for starters.

"I hire prostitutes and escorts to satisfy my fetishes," the page announced. "I’m a sick piece of scum with a gun."

But the officer didn’t create or contribute to the page and authorities have arrested his ex-girlfriend as the alleged imposter. Now the case being heard today in Morris County is being closely watched, not so much for its salacious details but because of the charge Dana Thornton of Belleville faces — identity theft.

Whether New Jersey’s law against identity theft extends to the internet will be tested before Superior Court Judge David Ironson. At least two states have laws that specifically address the issue, but New Jersey does not.

Thornton, 41, was indicted last year on the charge and faces up to 18 months in prison if she is found guilty.

Prosecutors will argue she violated the state’s identify theft law, which bars impersonation that causes "any injury or harm to another," even if there is no money value attached.

But Thornton’s attorney, Richard Roberts, will seek to have the indictment dismissed.

Unlike New Jersey, New York and California have adopted laws against internet impersonation that’s intended to harm someone, Roberts pointed out. In a letter to be presented today, supplementing an earlier brief, he said: "There appears to be no case law" on whether the identify theft law "applies to the use of electronic communications or an internet website."

Roberts said New Jersey legislators agree with him, and that’s why "they sent a clear and definitive message that an amendment was necessary" to the law.

An amendment that would bar internet impersonation to "obtain a benefit ... or injure or defraud another" was passed unanimously in the Assembly in March and remains under consideration in the Senate (S2462).

"There was no law against it at the time (Thornton) did it," Roberts said in a recent telephone interview.

In a brief opposing dismissal of the identity theft charge, Morris County Assistant Prosecutor Peter Foy listed statements posted on the fake Facebook page, including "I’m an undercover narcotics detective that gets high every day" and "I have herpes."

Foy also said cable provider Comcast confirmed the Facebook posts were created at Thornton’s home in Belleville.

They "certainly would damage (his) good name, standing or reputation," Foy said, maintaining they contain "false claims" that the detective "utilized drugs, hired prostitutes or had a venereal disease."

Ed Murray/The Star-LedgerSuperior Court Judge David Ironson will decide whether New Jersey’s law against identity theft extends to the internet.

The officer, Michael Lasalandra, did not return a call seeking comment on the case.

Roberts said the indictment contains no evidence the detective suffered any monetary or property loss and that the grand jury heard no testimony that he suffered any "injury" when the Facebook page was set up on May 13, 2009.

Asked if he thinks the Morris County Prosecutor’s Office pursued this case because the alleged victim was a police officer, Roberts replied: "Obviously, there’s a professional connection between the prosecutor’s office and police departments. But I would hope that the fact that the complaining witness was a police officer would not influence them."

A spokesman for the prosecutor’s office declined to comment on the case.

Julie Gottlieb, an attorney who writes a blog called Social Media Law News, said she expects the prosecution will prevail at today’s hearing. She pointed out that the state’s identity theft law bars impersonating someone "to injure or defraud."

"While it does not appear that the law has been used this way (internet impersonation) before, it is likely that a court will find the law applicable in this case," Gottlieb wrote in an e-mail.

"Additionally, it appears that ... (the detective) has a winnable civil claim for defamation," she added.

"Unfortunately, people use the internet to impersonate others all the time, often with deadly results," Gottlieb said.

She cited a landmark cyber-bullying case from 2006 when a Missouri woman, Lori Drew, 47, created a fake MySpace page in the name of a fictional 16-year-old boy named Josh Evans and used it to taunt a neighbor, 13-year-old Megan Meier. The girl, an acquaintance of Drew’s daughter, wound up committing suicide after the phantom Josh at first told her he loved her and later turned against her, saying, "The world would be a better place without you."

Authorities charged Drew in federal court with conspiracy, three other felony counts of accessing computers without authorization to inflict emotional harm and two misdemeanor charges of accessing computers without authorization. She was convicted only on the misdemeanor charges.

In New Jersey, an online bully plagued Newark 15-year-old Nafeesa Onque for nearly three years beginning in 2008. The bully impersonated her, following her across the social-networking spectrum and hounding the teen and her friends on MySpace and Facebook.

The tormentor turned out to be a 15-year-old girl Nafeesa had suspected from the start. State Police arrested the alleged bully and charged her with wrongful impersonation. The suspect’s identity was withheld due to her age.

California criminalized online impersonation by passing its "e-personation" law in April, making it illegal to "credibly impersonate another ... for the purpose of harming, intimidating, threatening or defrauding."

In one of the first prosecutions under the law, Jesus Felix, a 22-year-old Los Angeles man, last week pleaded no contest to creating 130 fake Facebook profiles and posting Craigslist ads to harass his 16-year-old ex-girlfriend, according to an account by an NBC affiliate’s website in California.

Felix pleaded guilty to two counts of "e-personation" and one count of making harassing phone calls and was sentenced to five years of probation and 30 days of community service.